Northwest Family.

Colorful Past Is Seen Through Eyes Of Dolls In Exhibit

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS — Mary Wuestenfeld likes to think of them as orphans of the attic, the dolls of childhood that can instantly send a woman back to her youth, triggering a rush of memories.

"Our past gets packed away or is often given away to goodwill," said Wuestenfeld, a volunteer for the Arlington Heights Historical Museum who works with the Martha Mills Doll Collection.

The 1,000-piece collection can help women of any age recapture some of that girlish past. The magic even works for children who may want to see how the older dolls stack up with the likes of the American Girls and Barbie.

As a child, Martha Parkinson Mills was only allowed two dolls, a deprivation she more than compensated for as an adult. Born in 1885 on a farm in Indiana, Mills moved to Arlington Heights in 1945.

She began her collection three years later after watching a group of ladies make crepe paper dolls in a store on Randolph Street. Mills expressed her own creativity in a variety of mediums, including corn cobs and corn husks, yarn, wishbones, beeswax, soap, clothespins, clay, cotton, porcelain and coconuts.

But it was her technique of using dried apples for doll heads that brought her the most fame. Today, 15 percent of the collection is Mills' own design.

After her death in 1983, the donated collection was boxed up and put into storage, waiting for someone to rediscover its potential. Marilyn Marier, a museum volunteer, eventually opened the boxes in search of a new program for the museum to feature.

It was like discovering a treasure, one that stared back at her.

"Viewing the collection, I was surprised at what good condition the dolls were in," Marier said. " Although they aren't the cuddly baby dolls, they were played with. Of course in those days, the amount of time a child had to play with a doll was rare and was always supervised."

Marier consulted a doll expert and discovered the collection was valuable. In 1988, it was put on display for the first time at the Arlington Heights Memorial Library.

The exhibit is displayed on the second floor of the Banta House, located at 110 W. Fremont St. More than 100 pieces are shown at a time. Tours are given on Saturdays and the first Friday of the month at 2 and 3 p.m. Cost is $2 for adults, $1 for children. Groups of six or more are taken by appointment.

Learning the history of doll making and the sociological influences that shaped the dolls appeals to Marier and other volunteers.

For example, a century ago dolls came without clothes. A mother would make clothes for the doll to teach her daughter about dressmaking. It was an opportunity to transfer useful skills that involved both play and learning, Marier said.

The bisque-headed "dolly face" dolls, dating back to 1889, are some of the oldest in the collection.

They were most likely made in Germany and featured real human hair and silk clothing.

"After World War II, because of the prejudice of buying German goods and the fact that many of the dollmakers were Jewish and didn't survive, the bisque head craft diminished," Wuestenfeld said.

The collection also features "half dolls" that were introduced in Germany in the 1920s and stand no more than six inches high. They were used to adorn pin cushions, powder puffs and the handles of hand dusters. Shirley Temple, Chatty Cathy, the Charles Dickens collection and various U.S. presidents and their wives represent the 1930s and 1940s.

The 1950s brought an explosion of plastics, making dolls more durable and sophisticated.

"Dolls of the '50s were designed as traditional girls with blond curls and frilly dresses that came with trunks of clothing. It wasn't until Barbie was introduced as a slinky, sexy, bright-eyed doll" that a doll personified the character of women of the late 1950s, Marier said.

The Mills exhibit features the third Barbie model ever made, a 1957 "wedding" Barbie.

"It used to be girls would own one doll, probably made in Japan," Marier said. "The popularity of The American Girls collection is an example of the degree of affluence Americans enjoy today and the types of toys we buy for our children."

Mills liked to show off her dolls, inviting the children of the neighborhood to view her "little people of Drury Lane."

"She would hang pink curlers out on her mailbox when it was OK for the children in the neighborhood to come in. Even the boys would come to see the wood carved dolls," Marier said.

Mills bequeathed her dolls to the Arlington Heights Historical Society so more children would be able to enjoy her collection. It was a means of sharing things that were an important part of her life with the community.

The dolls are handled only with cotton gloves, and when stored, they are covered with acid-free paper in acid-free boxes. A few times a year volunteers open all the boxes to circulate the air.

"My advice to moms is to save your daughters' dolls and their boxes," Wuestenfeld said. "Who knows, someday you may find you have a valuable collection of your own."